By: Janalyn
Voigt
Ever read a
well-plotted book with engaging characters and exquisite execution that just
couldn’t grab you? Something was missing that you couldn’t quite
identify. This frustrating scenario happens for a number of reasons, not all of
them in the author’s control. For our purposes here, we’ll focus on one common
dialogue-writing mistake I’ve come across over and over again as a literary
contest judge and that I’ve been guilty of myself: missing dialogue.
When we
summarize through exposition rather than setting a scene that will engage the
reader’s senses, dialogue goes missing. The effect is rather like a
five-year-old calling from a playground swing: “Look at me!” While your loving
eyes may make your child’s antics forever fresh, readers are probably less
prejudiced about your story. They will endure only so much telling rather than showing.
You see, what
every reader wants is not to watch and applaud, but to be in that swing.
Example of
Missing Dialogue
. . .
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